Coffee and coffee houses have surged in popularity. As a result, consumers have become more particular about the coffee that they are willing to drink. Many consumers prefer to buy whole bean coffee roasts, and grind their own coffee because coffee made from fleshly ground beans has a superior aroma and taste. One main appeal of coffee is its aroma. Unfortunately, the aroma quickly escapes from ground coffee beans. Hence, coffee must be made relatively quickly from freshly ground beans to achieve superior aroma and taste.
Numerous devices for making coffee include timers that can be set to brew coffee at selected times. The user places water and coffee in the device, sets the timer, and the device brews the coffee at the appropriate time. However, many of these devices do not include a grinder that is controlled by the timer. Hence, coffee beans must be ground in advance, and left in the device until the desired time. Thus, the ground coffee beans usually lose their aroma well before the coffee is brewed.
The devices for making coffee also often include a pot for receiving the coffee, which keeps the coffee warm by means of an electric burner. However, a problem with this arrangement is that brewed coffee also loses its aroma over time. Thus, while these devices are capable of keeping a pot of coffee made from freshly ground beans warm for hours on an electric burner, often the coffee has long since lost its desirable aroma and taste. Additional problems are that the pots are not thermally insulated so that unnecessary energy is expended keeping the coffee warm, persons often inadvertently bum themselves on the hot electric burners, and the electric burners are a potential fire hazard.
Accordingly, the present invention provides an improved solution to the above problems.